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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Dan Hansen

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

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News >  Nation/World

Land Swaps Deter Ugly Development Negotiations Last Year For Liberty Lake Property Went Nowhere Until The Owner Threatened To Start Logging

Three recent examples show that government is most motivated to swap land for top value when it fears owners are about to do something awful to their property. Spokane County bought 84 acres at Liberty Lake last year for $236,000. Negotiations went nowhere until the owner threatened to log the land, which is popular with hikers.
News >  Spokane

Sweetser Defends Firings Ex-Workers Say Politics Motivated Dismissals

Spokane County's newly elected prosecutor took the witness stand Friday to contradict critics who said he fired two deputy prosecutors for political reasons. What's more, said Jim Sweetser, he never promised during last year's election that he would only fire employees for just cause. Witnesses who testified otherwise were misinformed, inaccurate or have ulterior motives, he said. Sweetser said he fired Jennifer Boharski for being rude to colleagues, police and himself, for bringing down morale, and because she wasn't a "team player."
News >  Spokane

County, Companies Agree To Land Swap Firm To Get North Bank Land; County Will Get Warehouse

Four crumbling buildings near the Spokane County Courthouse would be leveled and a longtime Spokane business would move under terms of a complicated land swap. The deal involves the county, Graybar Electric Co. and Metropolitan Mortgage Co., which initiated the land swap. Metropolitan plans to develop the north bank of the Spokane River and needs county land to reroute roads to the project.
News >  Nation/World

Bias Alleged In Bids On Resort

Julia Frowick, 5, gets a lift from Daryl Martin at Mount Spokane as she gets a lesson from her mother Gail, right. The Frowicks own a condo on the mountain. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review
News >  Washington Voices

Saving The Lake Eloika Lake Residents Are Searching Physically And Fiscally For A Way To Keep Their Lake Alive

1. Vic Soules, president of the Eloika Lake Community Association is lobbying to get a dam built on the Little Spokane River to slow the demise of Eloika Lake. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Jim Ferguson 3. The Fergusons' pasture land floods every spring before the water of Eloika Lake recedes. Jim Ferguson is concerned that a proposed dam would make the land unusable. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review
News >  Nation/World

Meetings Set For Dangerous Road

The state Department of Transportation will discuss safety improvements for one of the Eastern Washington's most dangerous roads during meetings this week in Colville and Deer Park. More than 8,000 people signed petitions last year asking for safety improvements for U.S. Highway 395 north of Spokane. They and Washington politicians convinced Congress to provide $9 million for the work. Accidents on the highway between Spokane and Loon Lake alone claim about two lives a year, according to DOT statistics.
News >  Spokane

Freeholders Will Present Minority Report As Well Spokane County Commissioners Will Get Two Proposals, Not One

Spokane County commissioners will get two proposals instead of one when freeholders finish their review of local government. The majority of the 25 freeholders will send commissioners a charter that would consolidate Spokane city and county government under one county council and an elected executive. That's the proposal commissioners most likely will put on the ballot.
News >  Spokane

Costs Delay New Exhibit Hall At Fairgrounds Proposed Substitute For Leaky Annexes Won’t Be Built In Time For September Fair

Once again this year, 4-H crafts will be exhibited in a massive tent at the Spokane Interstate Fair because a proposed exhibit hall is over budget and behind schedule. Interstate Fair board members thought they could build the hall - a replacement for three cramped and leaky annexes - for about $1.35 million. They thought the work would be done in time for this year's fair.
News >  Spokane

Zoo Manager’s Pleas Are Met With Skepticism

(For the record, Friday, February 17, 1995): Spokane County commissioners are considering an offer of 81 acres, site of Walk in the Wild zoo, from Inland Empire Paper Co. The size of the parcel was wrong in recent stories about the offer.
News >  Nation/World

Library Fees Are Making Kids Shelve Reading Children Caught In Middle Of City, County Turf War

The turf battle between Spokane city and county libraries is hurting kids on both sides of the city limits, teachers say. "One of our goals as educators is ... to generate a love of reading," staff from Moran Prairie Elementary wrote in a letter to the Spokane Public Library. "Without the ability to use the city library, our students will be deprived of a means of enhancing their education."
News >  Washington Voices

County To List Businesses That Store Chemicals Information Will Help Protect Aquifer From Contamination

Spokane County health officials want to know what chemicals are stored above ground so they know how to protect the drinking water underground. The county health district plans to spend $60,000 in federal money this year to start a list of businesses storing chemicals that could damage the Spokane-Rathdrum Aquifer. Eventually, those 4,000 to 7,000 businesses will be inspected every three years to make sure the chemicals are handled properly. The businesses themselves may have to pay for the inspections.
News >  Spokane

Rain, Warm Weather Sends Area Rivers Rising

Recent rain and warm weather caused some slopes in the Inland Northwest to shed snow. But the highest peaks still are buried under enough snow to provide plenty of water this summer, forecasters say. And area rivers are not expected to flood despite this week's unseasonably warm weather. Eastern Washington and North Idaho rivers "are showing some pretty good increases, but most of them are well within their banks," said Dave Westnedge, a hydrologist at the River Forecast Center in Portland.